Part 74 (2/2)

The end and perfection of the Great Work is expressed, in alchemy, by a triangle surmounted by a cross: and the letter Tau, ?, the last of the Sacred alphabet, has the same meaning.

The ”elementary fire,” that comes primarily by attraction, is evidently Electricity or the Electric Force, primarily developed as magnetism, and in which is perhaps the secret of life or the vital force.

Paracelsus, the great Reformer in medicine, discovered magnetism long before Mesmer, and pushed to its last consequences this luminous discovery, or rather this initiation into the magic of the ancients, who understood the grand magical agent better than we do, and did not regard the Astral Light, Azoth, the universal magnetism of the Sages, as an animal and particular fluid, emanating only from certain special beings.

The four Elements, the four symbolic animals, and the re-duplicated Principles correspond with each other, and are thus arranged by the Hermetic Masons:

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The Air and Earth represent the _Male_ Principle; and the Fire and Water belong to the _Female_ Principle.

To these four forms correspond the four following philosophical ideas.

Spirit: Matter: Movement: Repose.

Alchemy reduces these four things to three:

The Absolute: the Fixed: the Volatile.

Reason: Necessity; Liberty: are the synonyms of these three words.

As all the great Mysteries of G.o.d and the Universe are thus hidden in the Ternary, it everywhere appears in Masonry and in the Hermetic Philosophy under its mask of Alchemy. It even appears where Masons do not suspect it; to teach the doctrine of the equilibrium of Contraries, and the resultant Harmony.

The double triangle of Solomon is explained by Saint John in a remarkable manner: There are, he says, three witnesses in Heaven,--the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and three witnesses on earth,--the breath, water, and blood. He thus agrees with the Masters of the Hermetic Philosophy, who give to their Sulphur the name of Ether, to their Mercury the name of philosophical water, to their Salt that of blood of the dragon, or menstruum of the earth. The blood, or Salt, corresponds by opposition with the Father; the Azothic, or Mercurial water, with the Word, or Logos; and the breath, with the Holy Spirit.

But the things of High Symbolism can be well understood only by the true children of Science.

Alchemy has its Symbolic Triad of Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury,--man consisting, according to the Hermetic philosophers, of Body, Soul, and Spirit. The Dove, the Raven, and the Phnix are striking Symbols of Good and Evil, Light and Darkness, and the Beauty resulting from the equilibrium of the two.

If you would understand the true secrets of Alchemy, you must study the works of the Masters with patience and a.s.siduity. Every word is often an enigma; and to him who reads in haste, the whole will seem absurd. Even when they seem to teach that the Great Work is the purification of the Soul, and so to deal only with morals, they most conceal their meaning, and deceive all but the Initiates.

Yod [[Hebrew] or ?] is termed in the Kabalah the _opifex_, _workman_ of the Deity. It is, says the _Porta Clorum_, single and primal, like _one_, which is the first among numbers; and like a _point_, the first before all bodies. Moved lengthwise, it produces a _line_, which is Vau, and this moved sidewise produces a _superficies_, which is Daleth. Thus Vau [?] becomes Daleth [?]; for movement tends from right to left; and all communication is from above to below. The _plenitude_ of Yod, that is, the _name_ of this letter, spelled, is ???, Y-O-D. Vau [which represents 6] and Daleth [4] are 10; like Yod, their principle.

Yod, says the _Siphra de Zeniutha_, is the Symbol of Wisdom and of the Father.

The Principle called Father, says the _Idra Suta_, is comprehended in Yod, which flows downward from the Holy influence, wherefore Yod is the most occult of all the letters; for he is the beginning and end of all things. The Supernal Wisdom is Yod; and all things are included in Yod, who is therefore called Father of Fathers, or the Generator of the Universal. The Principle of all things is called the House of all things: wherefore Yod is the beginning and end of all things; as it is written: ”_Thou hast made all things in Wisdom_.” For The All is termed Wisdom; and in it The All is contained; and the summary of all things is the Holy Name.

Yod, says the _Siphra de Zeniutha_, signifying the Father, approaches the letter He, which is the Mother; and by the combination of these two is denoted that luminous influence wherewith Binah is imbued by the Supernal Wisdom.

In the name [Hebrew: ???], says the same, are included the Father, Mother, and Microprosopos, their issue. He, impregnated by Vau, produced Microprosopos, or Seir Anpin.

Wisdom, Hakemah, is the Principle of all things: it is the Father of Fathers, and in it are the beginning and end of all things.

Microprosopos, the second Universal, is the issue of Wisdom, the Father, and Binah, the Mother, and is composed of the six Numerations, Geburah, Gedulah, and Tephareth, Netsach, Hod, and Yesod; is represented under the form of a man, and said to have at first occupied the place afterward filled by the world Briah [of Creation], but afterward to have been raised to the Aziluthic sphere, and received Wisdom, Intelligence, and Cognition [Daath] from the Supernal Wisdom and Intellectuality.

Vau, in the tri-literal word, denotes these six members of Microprosopos. For this latter is formed after the fas.h.i.+on of Macroprosopos, but without Kether, the will, which remains in the first prototype or Universal; though invested with a portion of the Divine Intellectual Power and Capacity. The first Universal does not use the first person, and is called in the third person, [Hebrew: ???,] HUA, HE: but the second Universal speaks in the first person, using the word [Hebrew: ???,] ANI, I.

The IDRA RABBA, or Synodus Magna, one of the books of the Sohar, says:

<script>