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itself up to such a person with its divine wonders.
This is actually the true Process of the Magnum Opus of the true Alchemists, which
for centuries, was completely wrapped up in a mysterious darkness.
Of course, keeping this a secret, had valid reasons, because through the wrong and
improper employment of the alchemistical process, the greatest calamity could come
into being.
Therefore, this process is necessary, because the Soul cannot be born again in an
impure body. With such a rebirth, a conscious continuous life after death cannot be
thought of.
This is why Eug. Philaletha said:
Alchemy Unveiled Page 41
"The tincture or the Soul of Sulphur cannot be new-born in her own
impure body, she must leave the earthly dark house and take on a new
pure body before she can unite herself with the heavenly Light."
-(Eug. Philaletha, Euphrates oder die Wasser von Aufgang)
In the subject of our art, mercury and sulphur (Spirit and Soul) are together; but they
are linked so weakly, that through the art, they can easily be taken apart, cleansed or
purified and in a wonderful manner be newly united again.
Without this separation, purification and reunification, the danger exists that the
Spirit, when death occurs, will escape and the Soul will be without a guide and must
.
wander around aimlessly in the dark chaos of the underworld, and in a way
experience a second death, that is a condition the Bible calls "Hell."
Under certain circumstances, this condition can occur before death. This is due to the
fact that once in a while a total separation of the Spirit and Soul can take place during
our lifetime. Through this, a Human Being falls victim to a hopeless obnubilation and
becomes the booty of the Demons. These occurrences are not infrequent, the mental
hospitals are full of them.
In our present times, those that should be knowledgeable in matters of the human soul
(Psychologists) are mostly perplexed when they are confronted with matters like this.
They do not know what the soul really is. Since they do not acknowledge a Spirit and
a substantial Soul existing independently from the body. This is why they constantly
confuse the concept of Spirit and Soul. For example, in one of the newer
philosophical dictionaries, it is stated:
"The Spirit is synonymous with the Soul, or in contrast to the emotional and
instinctive life: the "higher" Soul-life, the thinking-Soul ..."
When such confusion exists, you should not be surprised over such Contradictio in
adjecto. When at one point, the Spirit is being placed as the "thinking principle" in
contrast to the Soul, the "instinctive life," and immediately thereafter, it is declared to
be the "thinking soul" and identical with the latter.
In a Human Being, we basically have to, upon closer examination, differentiate
between seven Principles:
1. According to the substance; the coarse external physical body belongs to the
Mineral Kingdom.
2. The vegetative life; the Vital Principle, is that which is plant-like in the
Human Being.
3. Instinct or the instinctive life; the unconscious Depth-of-the-Soul, the
animality, synonymous with the animal in Human Beings.
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Alchemy Unveiled Page 42
4. The emotional and perceptional life; the picture-world of dreams and fantasy,
the inner sensorium, the conscious soul is: the child in us.
5. The thought and judgement principle; the Spirit (intellect), the "I-
Consciousness" and the personal will is: the Human Being in us.
6. The Principle of the higher intelligence and understanding; the geniality
(Intuition) and wisdom, the higher SELF, the divine Spirit-Soul is: the Angel in
us.
7. Above all, on a throne, God's Eternal Primary Light; the highest principle of
Human Beings, usually overshadows Human Beings more or less and pours only
its rays into the higher Spirit-Soul, without totally penetrating into the Human
Being.
Agrippa von Nettesheim proves this in his "Secret Philosophy" when he writes:
"That is why Human Beings alone enjoy this honour, they partake in
everything, work together with everything, and they are in contact
with everything. They share in the materia of their own subject; when
it comes to the elements through their fourfold body; when it comes to
the plants through the vegetative energy; when it comes to the animals
through the sensory life; when it comes to Heaven through the etheric
Spirit and the influence of the upper parts upon the lower parts; when
it comes to the Angels through their reason and wisdom; when it
comes to God through the personification of All. Human Beings
associate with God and the Intelligences through Belief and Wisdom,
with Heaven and the heavenly through reason and speech and with all
the lower things through the sensory life."
Nettesheim understands by reason, divine reason, the principle of understanding and
wisdom. With reason, he understands the thought and judgement principle. That
understanding becomes prominent in a certain part of his "Secret
Philosophy," when he writes:
"Plotinus and all the Platonists accept, as did Trismegistus, the
position that Human Beings are threefold, namely, the Uppermost, the
Lowermost and the Middle. The Uppermost is the Divine, which is
considered to be the intelligence, the higher part or the enlightened
understanding. In Genesis, Moses calls this the Breath of Life -
inspired by God or His Spirit. The Lowermost is the sensitive Soul,
which is called the picture (Image). The Apostle Paul calls it the
animalistic Human Being."
The Middle is the reasonable Spirit, which is the extreme of both, and connects the
animalistic Soul and the Divine Intellect and takes part in the Nature of these two
extremes. Yet, the reasonable Spirit is different fro? the Uppermost in Human Beings,
that is the illuminated understanding, the Divine Intellect, the Light and the Higher
Alchemy Unveiled Page 43
Part. It is also different from the animalistic Soul, from which we have to separate the
reasonable Spirit, through the power of God's Word. The Apostle Paul describes this
as more penetrating than a double-edged sword and of which he says that it is alive,
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