ALCHEMY AND ASTROLOGY 245 



Planets are states of mind, and as the mind has a 

 higher and a lower aspect, consequently each planet has 

 its two aspects correspondingly. 



Mercury in its higher aspect is the smybol of wisdom, 

 in its lower aspect that of the intellect. 



Jupiter in its higher aspect represents majesty, in its 

 lower aspect energy. 



throw some light on the perplexing subject of alchemy. He says : "The 

 art of divine magic consists in the ability to perceive the essence of things 

 in the light of Nature, and by using the soul-powers of the spirit to 

 produce material things from the unseen universe (A'kasa), and in such 

 operations the Above (the Macrocosm) and the Below (the Microcosm) 

 must be brought together and made to act harmoniously. The spirit 

 of Nature is a unity, creating and forming everything, and by acting 

 through the instrumentality of man it may produce wonderful things. 

 Such processes take place according to law. You will learn the law by 

 which these things are accomplished, if you learn to know yourself. You 

 will know it by the power of the spirit that is in yourself, and accomplish 

 it by mixing your spirit with the essence that comes out of yourself. If 

 you wish to succeed in such a work you must know how to separate spirit 

 and life in Nature, and, moreover, to separate the astral soul in yourself 

 and to make it tangible, and then the substance of the soul will appear 

 visibly and tangibly, rendered objective by the power of the spirit. Christ 

 speaks of the salt, and the salt is of a threefold nature. Gold is of a 

 threefold nature, and there is an ethereal, a fluid, and a material gold. 

 It is the same gold, only in three different states ; and gold in one state 

 may be made into gold in another state. But such mysteries should not 

 be divulged, because the fool and scoffer will laugh at it, and to him who is 

 covetous they will be a temptation." 



[Notice. — I wish to warn the reader, who might be inclined to 

 try any of the alchemical prescriptions contained in this book, 

 not to do so unless he is an alchemist, because, although I know 

 from personal observation that these prescriptions are not only 

 allegorically but literally true, and will prove successful in the 

 hands of an alchemist, they would only cause a waste of time 

 and money in the hands of one who has not the necessary quali- 

 fications. A person who wants to be an alchemist must have in 

 himself the " ma^esia," which means the magnetic power to 

 attract and "coagulate" invisible astral elements. This power is 

 only possessed by those who are "Initiates." Those who do not 

 know what this expression means are not " reborn " (or initiated), 

 and it cannot be explained to them. But he who is initiated will 

 know it, and needs no instruction from books, because he will know 

 his instructor.] 



