Magic & Alchemy: Understanding The Link

Magic & Alchemy: Understanding the
Link
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Within the Hermetic Sciences, the foundation of the Western Mystery
Tradition, the two main branches are magic and alchemy.
Magic as a broad subject is far more widely studied, since reliable alchemical
teaching is hard to find. The same is unfortunately true of magic, but there is so
much more of it available in general, that Seekers are forced to slog through more
trite than solid, useful information.
While true adepts that teach will usually have strong leanings more towards one
than the other, both magic and alchemy are really composites of the same
Hermetic Art. It cannot be said that one is internal and the other external,
because in practice both have their subjective and objective processes. They
do however form a sort of check and balance system when seeking to separate the
Illumination Through the Western Mysteries

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true from the false, because it is in the overlap of these two branches, within
properly instructed subjective (inner) training, that the deepest truth between them
is to be discovered. This also leads to the inescapable conclusion that the Mastery of
inner alchemical forces and the occult science that can be applied as a result is MAGIC,
and is the foundation of true Initiation towards the journey to spiritual Illumination and
completion of the Great Work.
The Mysteries are not so easily penetrated, however, so it is no small wonder
that what is taught out in the world is predominantly a distraction from a
functional higher path.
Innumerable publications on the subject are nothing more than thinly disguised
plagiarism based upon revivalist theory and offer nothing more than reinforcement
of those mainstream magical beliefs. No matter how sincere the Seekers, it is a virtual
guarantee that they will go in circles in the maze of insubstantial teaching until such
time that they find their way out to a higher Understanding.
If we analyze the current prevalent mix of curious magical and alchemical
beliefs in the occult mainstream, it can generally be said that:
many neopagans practice revivalist religions but consider their allegorical

rituals to be the authentic magic in and of itself.
most ceremonial magicians talk about alchemy but have little to no
demonstrable understanding of it on a practical laboratory level i.e. Golden
Dawn, Crowley, Regardie (until the end of his life), etc.
most lab alchemists who do plant work are practicing a species of advanced
herbalism and calling it alchemy, because they are not aware of the
difference. Additionally, some lab alchemists believe there is no inner
alchemy.
spiritual (inner) alchemists think alchemy is only a psycho-spiritual process
because they have never done real practical laboratory alchemy work they
do not understand it and so have decided it must not be real.
most aspiring alchemists (lab and inner) trying to follow Hermetic
principles as best they can do not have the correct understanding of spiritual
(inner) work in the Western tradition. They end up relying upon imported
fragments of other traditions, so their practices become an eclectic hodge
podge further confusing paths to the Stone because the inner and outer
practices cannot possibly correlate.

Although each of these branches do originally come from one central tree,
the core/root magical initiatory teachings that allow access and enable their
integrated Understanding have become obscured.
This situation also makes it fairly certain that without instruction from someone
who has received a degree of real knowledge and how to apply it productively,
getting out of the maze is unlikely.
Those who are drawn to neopagan or occult revivalist

traditions, generally have strong interest in their magical
elements. Some of those elements are actually more useful, in
their basic forms, than much of the complex training in
ceremonial forms, due to a distilled simplicity that has a
common root with Old System Magic.
In most modern magical practice though, no matter what tradition, should

actual materialized phenomena happen, most participants would be utterly
surprised.
This is because the rituals are usually enactments of religious allegories, essentially
mystery plays, which are symbolic veils over the deeper meanings which were
never or are no longer fully understood. So, after the fun part of being occultish
wears off or is outgrown, often the participants have still not progressed in any
truly useful initiatory way.
This either leads to abandonment of the practice, or delving more deeply into study
of many subjects that have become substitutes for actual magic, such as astrology,
tarot, and herbology, which are promoted and passed off as Secrets of the Wise
because the deeper, real secrets are not actually known. These areas of study
become interesting for a while, and they have their place, but they also fail to
quench deep spiritual thirst because they are not paths in themselves.

In essence, it does not matter what tradition you practice if the deep magic
is not known there will only ever be partial success. With deep magic all
religions (if they have some basis in Truth) become sources of illumination because
one will instantly understand the allegories that they contain and teach within their
written and oral traditions. The external form of religion is the package that speaks
to ones personality the most, and there is nothing wrong with having more affinity
with esoteric paths instead of traditional religious paths, or vice versa but there is
much deeper magic to be had in either, once one resolves to find it and endeavor
to Understand it.
The only thing that is of ultimate use (as far as being a truly
evolutionary spiritual practice) is that which leads to
permanent transfiguration.
In order to make progress with alchemy and deep magic, there is often quite
a bit of reassessment and unlearning to be done in terms of what passes for
current metaphysical and modern magical thought.
There are all kinds of courses, workshops and supposed self-help books claiming
things like reprogramming the subconscious mind is somehow the master key to
solving problems. While there is a degree of half-truth to this, which is what hooks
people into believing it, the last thing one wants to do, were it even possible, is
reprogram ones reality directly through the limited intelligence of the conscious
thinking mind the conscious mind cannot handle it. That is why there is a
subconscious mind in the first place!
Those who are at least trying to learn something are subjected to a full range of
pseudo-esoteric propaganda in lieu of anything more substantial, and there are no
shortage of promoters to pander out-of-context information and workshops full of
mental exercises that lead to very little, if any, actual transformation. They only
serve to reinforce the emotionally-based belief that one is really doing something.
The problem is that none of that leads to spiritual development for the participants.

It is not the subconscious mind that is the problem, it is the

conscious mindspecifically the barriers within the conscious
mind that create separation from universal consciousness.
It may indeed be useful to apply some mental techniques to help deal with day to
day life, tools are tools. But, make no mistake, reprogramming is simply that
rewriting one program over another. That process can only bring one so far. When
it is all said and done one is still being run by programs. Of course, many people
have realized this and in an attempt to feel less controlled by patterns and
programs, try to adopt beliefs or practices to mediate their issues. Most of them are
not useful for liberation but they satisfy the emotional need to feel that free will has
indeed been utilized, and that one is still in control.
Running on programs is what allows more powerful archetypal forces to
influence the habits and mind patterns that perpetuate cycles of
programming and reprogramming to give the illusion of change. This
maintains dependence upon a complex system of programs that give the
feeling of autonomy while actually creating barriers that prevent it.
Admittedly some programs are good, useful, and operating in accordance with the
balanced purpose for which they were created, such as the programs that are
running continually without notice that keep the autonomic systems working
properly. Others, however, were necessary and useful for a time but at a certain
level of attainment still require being properly dismantled. This is not an accident,
punishment, or aberration it is part of a structural necessity in order for
transfiguration to occur in sentient beings as they evolve to higher levels of
consciousness.
It is required to become conscious enough of these barrier programs that direct
perception of them is acquired, followed by an understanding of what exactly they
are, and then acquiring the knowledge to allow for the safe dismantling of them.
This is a puzzle created by Nature, the solving of which requires a certain kind of
Understanding: One guarded by proper entrance into the Mysteries.

A simple worldly example of this can be found in the pouring of concrete steps. Wet
concrete cannot be molded into perfectly formed steps it requires a form, and a
strong form at that. Solid lumber is used to create the boundary of the steps within
a designed framework. Then the concrete is poured and when it sets, the new steps
are ready. The framework is still there though so what happens if no one ever
dismantles the frame? The steps still work. They still function, and the frame does
not really impede the basic use of the steps after a while a frame not removed
would just fade into the background and only seldom get noticed.
That is essentially what has happened in human evolution as the framework
required for containing sentience during involution (the individuation
process) was put into place. Many humans are just on the edge of becoming
conscious of needing to take the framework down in order to make the
evolutionary step into what we were designed with the potential to become.
Unfortunately, psychology is not capable of guiding us through

that process because psychology is based upon an idea that
mental health is what is normal, and normal is what the
average person is doingand, at the moment the average
person is not exactly pushing the evolutionary curve.
Seekers are cornered into a world that is normal while trying to find their
way to the world that would be normal were more people to awaken to the
impulse to evolve.
Awakening to the impulse, however, is not the same as actually Awakening (although it is
often discussed as though it is) but the impulse leads to the pioneering creativity of
the human spirit to create systems that are hoped will help to reach the new
paradigm. This in turn leads to all kinds of experimental practices that eventually
become codified into specialized systems and belief structures that at some point
have to be surmounted in order to become independent of them. Often this
framework is not seen as mere scaffolding and just becomes another program.

Since psychology cannot be of much assistance in the quest for what lies outside of
normal, those who are more esoterically inclined are fortunate to have options
discovered and preserved by ancient mystery traditions, at least in principle.
Navigating the truth of it is another matter entirely, but if we are truly seeking,
there we must go.
The genuine mystery traditions of the past as well as their modern revivalist
reflections in the form of occult lodges and fraternities have long laid claim to
possess the secrets of the universe and to guard the gates to the true Western
Mystery Tradition. While it is true that many occult societies do have their own
secrets, they do not seem to possess the capstone because that lies within the
domain of practical alchemy. The processes of alchemy were so protected that
they were most often written in allegory, metaphor, or symbolism that
cannot be interpreted according to the surface level of meaning. In this way
alchemists made sure that their secrets would be kept. They succeeded
indeed, because most of the turn of the century occultists that have most
strongly affected what we now refer to as the Western Mystery Tradition
were not able to penetrate its secrets. Thus, they determined that the alchemists
were using chemical ciphers to conceal what were only spiritual processes to be
done on an internal, psychic level and that the laboratory process was a blind to
fool the ignorant.
Of this we can be certain because even the most well known occultists adopted this view,
most probably heavily influenced by Jungian thought that was gaining a foothold in the
early half of the century. The founders of what is referred to as the modern Hermetic
Western Mystery Tradition up until Israel Regardie (until the latter part of his life) did not
believe in the laboratory aspect of alchemy.
The alchemy that most occult fraternities teach as their alchemical secrets have
been largely derived from the copious writings of the modern magical revivalist
founding fathers, particularly Aleister Crowley. Most are based on some curious
ideas, notably that alchemy is based on sex magic and it is explored almost entirely
through the biased filter of these ideas (being heavily influenced by prevailing
Freudian thought of the day). Alchemical processes certainly do occur within the
sexual nature, as they indeed occur in all things. However, what is commonly
taught cannot possibly deliver on the promise of magical illumination; while true
Alchemy can. Knowing how to separate Earth out of Fire (read the Emerald Tablet)
and then bring about an alchemical conjunction through practical laboratory
alchemy leads towards the formation of an alchemical Stone on the material level,
and sheds light on the laws and processes required for greater spiritual attainment.
Practical alchemy is the most important facet of the Western Mystery
Tradition because it reveals the occult operations needed for true Initiation,
yet most occult organizations have elected to teach alchemy only as an inner
spiritual process because they do not possess actual, demonstrable lab
alchemy knowledge. This also means, unfortunately, that they most likely also lack
reliable teaching for the inner alchemy, because they are indeed working composites. In
the case of fraudulent fraternities that are just attempting to collect dues for their
membership this affords them zero accountability for not actually possessing any
secrets of real value. On the other hand, even within the truly spiritual occult
organizations very little comprehension of alchemy exists, so whether duplicitous
or not, the net effect is essentially the same: Magic being taught without the
initiatory aspects of alchemy. It is certainly understandable how this has come to
be. It is not meant as derision of those occult orders that do function with the best
of intentions, yet good intentions cannot make up for the lack of knowledge of
which they purport to be guardians.
Inductees into these various traditions are expected to do the work assigned to
them to make their way through grades, the passing of which are often referred to
as initiations. The aspirants then have the mistaken notion that because they have
received an initiation in a magical order that they are now a spiritual Initiate. While
not correct, this of course is emotionally satisfying and as long as there are secrets
forthcoming the membership within an organization is relatively stable.
The importance of being in an order claiming to have contact with secret
masters (often highly suspect claims of dubious nature) is considered very
important because part of the promise is that at a certain grade within the
order the initiate is to be given instruction in the process to achieve
independent personal contact. This entire process, basically The Book of
Abramelin, was lifted from a badly translated version of a French document which
was only a partial version of an original German document that was not available to
the occult community until very recently. So, for the 100 years of the revived
Hermetic Western Magical Tradition the document representing the climax of lodge
work was as deeply inspiring as it was flawed. This does not render it completely
useless, but it does cast a strong light on the secrets of the orders and how they
were obtained. Truly contacted adepti do not have to go outside of themselves to
obtain initiatory information so with a couple possible exceptions, very few of the
headmasters of any revivalist order were actually contacted at all, much less being
qualified to determine the nature of such contact.
Regarding further proof as to actual secrets of the Western Mystery Tradition
being unknown, we can reach back just one century to the verifiable histories
of the most well known modern revivalist fraternities. Basically, after a very
short time in operation near the turn of the twentieth century, occult
fraternities ran out of secrets to disseminate to their members.
In order to fill the gap with mystical secrets, the heads of these orders explored the
Orient in hopes of finding passable mysticism for their orders, as well as quench
their own considerable thirst. These esoteric secrets that were imported wholesale
into the Western schools gave ample material to keep everyone busy for a long
time. There was one huge problem that was not really known, and even today
people find it difficult to acknowledge because so much has been invested
into it: These imported esoteric secrets were not actually esoteric. They were
exotic enough that they seemed esoteric to Westerners, but within Eastern
traditions they were for the most part merely exoteric information. It has
taken about 100 years for this insightful tidbit to come to light. The importers of
this information were not genuinely instructed in the deeper Eastern esoteric
teachings, but they had gathered enough exotic data to create their own versions.
Oddly, over the last 100 years not much has changed within those types of
organizations. What is currently expected to pass as the Western Mystery Tradition
is a composite of bits and pieces of many cultures and religions, with the one truly
Western tradition that could actually Illuminate the whole of the Initiatory teaching,
practical alchemy, being conspicuously absent.
The Western Mystery Tradition has its own truly alchemical and magical
secrets, the exploration of which is inexhaustible should one choose to focus
on the Western path and stay the course to do the Work.
Aethyrius
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Illumination Through the Western Mysteries