What is the Philosophers Stone? Introduction to Alchemy - History of Alchemical Theory & Practice
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- Опубліковано 1 гру 2022
- The Philosophers' Stone of Alchemy is truly the stuff of legend. It is said to have the power to transmute lead to gold, heal sickness, prolong life - even allow one to speak with angels. But what is the origin and nature of this marvelous alchemical stone? How was it produced? In this episode, I explore the origins, history and the process by which the stone of the philosophers is said to be produced.
#alchemy #occult #chemistry #hermeticism
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Recommended Readings
Linden, Stanton J. (ed.) The Alchemy Reader: From Hermes Trismegistus to Isaac Newton. 978-0521796620. Nicely edited collection of alchemical primary texts.
Moran, Bruce. Distilling Knowledge: Alchemy, Chemistry, and the Scientific Revolution. 978-0674022492. Great text on the transition from alchemy to chemistry.
Principe, Lawrence. The Secrets of Alchemy. 978-0226103792. An up-to-date history of alchemy.
Newman, William. Newton the Alchemist: Science, Enigma, and the Quest for Nature's "Secret Fire" 978-0691174877. Cutting edge research on alchemy in the 17th century.
Roob, Alexander(ed.) Alchemy & Mysticism. 978-3836549363. A collection of alchemical imagery and symbolism, also a nice coffee table book!
Anything by Principe and Newman generally
![ОРБАН приехал к ПУТИНУ и "отчитался" о поездке в Киев 😁 [Пародия]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/_0ukDovOWq8/mqdefault.jpg)
The Philosopher Stone strikes me as the first "ideal" concept for early scientists. Just liie know we study the "ideal transistor" or "ideal capacitor" in electronics, which of course are just abstract concepts that don't exist in real life but help us measure a device's efficacy by comparison.
Very interesting stuff.
Many many years ago I had a friend who was an analytical chemist who was also interested in esoterica. He got into reading some of the (translations of) old alchemical texts. He found there was a mixed bag of works, and the earlier works and many of the later works were in a sort of private code which you could translate into modern chemistry any assay chemist would understand. It just was not written in modern chemical terms, and they lacked an atomic theory so they spoke of transmutation and not a separation. For instance, if you look at the parts of the vein of mineral they esteemed, the weathered portions nearer to the surface were most esteemed, and anybody with a modern understanding of mineralogy and the weathering of mineral veins would understand why. There is nothing magical here, just the explanations in terms of the understandings of the particular alchemical author. So there was no uniform language for explaining things like you would find today, so you had to translate each author a bit differently from another author--each was explaining his own understanding of how the alchemical processes worked.
After all, they did in fact know how to refine gold in great antiquity. Also, a lot of the imperfect science of alchemy got corrupted later by the gentlemen of the more for me now school, and there was also a lot of spiritual mumbo jumbo that got accreted on the works describing the works of ordinary working chemists of the day. There was also some guile in there. So the working alchemist might store his gold tied up in fulminate of mercury. To get the gold out of it when needed he would very gently roast it and the mercury would distill (sublimate) off and leave the gold behind. A thief who broke into his lab would be a bit too hasty roasting the fulminate and get an explosion and a cloud of mercury vapor in his face resulting in madness at the very least and a slow miserable death otherwise. Hence, do not mess with wizards. You will also learn that the most esteemed source of nitrate for their nitric acid was pig manure, which also figured large in the manufacture of gunpowder.
Very cool, thx for sharing that.😊👍
Red phosphorus?
Dr. Sledge has the Midas touch because everything he releases is alchemical gold.
It's wonderful to find someone who's fascinated by this stuff while also being deeply skeptical of it.
I’m not sure Jung meant that they were consciously trying to be spiritual, but that their understanding of physical and spiritual were less separate than our own and thus would naturally overlap. But obviously I cannot speak for Jung or the alchemists. Regardless your videos are great, keep it up!
20 videos in 2 days. Your works on the topic are absolutely gripping, and the references along the way are much appreciated. Cheers
It is perhaps a subtle implication (and perhaps others have already commented on this; I can’t read all the comments before trying to express this thought)…
The subtle implication is that the original alchemists were hampered by a less informed, less sophisticated, understanding of the physical world and the lack of standardized language or measurement techniques, but otherwise working diligently and rigorously and empirically to achieve their goals.
I suspect that in 1,000 years time, our descendants may have the same opinions or assessments of our modern efforts related to quantum mechanics, particle accelerators, etc.
Where Aristotle and his contemporaries modeled the world as being composed of 4 events, we have the Standard Model (fermions and bosons).
Nils Bohr said it best: no models are true or real, but some models are more useful or more convenient than others.
I try to apply this notion to all notions.
Everything I “know” is predicated on a subtle internal model of reality I have learned (or been taught) in tiny steps.
One model of this is that my neural pathways have become hardwired to immediate apprehend signals according to my previous or preconceived experiences and expectations effectively bypassing the true raw perception; I’m no longer experiencing the world as it is; I am experiencing the world through a layer of cognitive abstractions.
It’s a fast and efficient mechanism for survival and participation in the daily activities proscribed by the culture in which I seem to live, but…
… it can be an impediment to epiphany, revelation, or enlightenment (“sure, I’d like a mint”)
So, thanks for the reminder.
By contemplating the beliefs of other cultures past or present, I hope to more consciously regard my own as simply convenient or useful models, maps, or menus, rather than absolute truths or “reality”; I strive to remain a devout “maybe-ist”
@@davidhays2846 I see I've fnorded the attention of the fnords. ;-> Keep the lasagna flying!
@@davidhays2846 I’m still trying to open my third nostril or at least decide what my nose smells like or how my ears sound.
I had never seen the material explanation for the sulphur-mercury theory. Seems so strange to us now but once we reconstruct their experiments it seems very intuitive. Great lecture as always, Professor!
Yeah it really makes a ton of empirical sense
I would pay money to see these experiments replicated and reconstructed
Never get tired of lectures on alchemy, especially by you Dr. Sledge
Love your videos! I'm studying everything I can on alchemy for a fantasy novel I'm writing, so this helps a lot!
@@arnolddalby5552 what have you discovered about the strange properties of bismuth?
@@arnolddalby5552 And it's properties? What - if anything - does it do?
@@arnolddalby5552 is this real?
@@arnolddalby5552 chug it
Even if there is an anachronism in projecting Jungian Psychologized spiritualism, or New Age movements onto Alchemical beliefs, I do not think it is quite right to say they were solely concerned with proto-chemistry. Their chemistry theory and assumptions about the nature of the world feels very Platonic/Neo-platonic and I can see where people are coming from when they say there is a Hermeticism influence on it beyond a certain point. I don't think they'd have perceived a separation between science and metaphysics/spiritual exploration, and you could argue the very nature of their assumptions about reality, ontology, etc evinces a kind of "classical spiritualism" not really seen as hip today, but never the less present in their project.
There's a great small volume titled " Alchemy: Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul" by Titus Burckhardt which is a wonderful entry into this issue for those interested. Reprints available.
You are very correct. This academic reductionism to alchemy fowarded by lawrence principe and his friends is funny to say the least. An amusing attempt to say " tHeY wErE tRyInG tO MaKe ChEmIsTrY". Which as you pointed out is not entirely true. The lines of science and spirituality/metaphysics were blurred, or rather, there were no lines. And it wasnt because they had no knowledge of proper science as we do today. Instead, they understood the lack of separation between things. A unified vision of being, a hermetic view indeed. It is hilarious to think that academicians read Zosimos and say "yep, chemistry all the way".
Love when you cover alchemical topics!! do more please
Oh yes, many, many more incoming!
The beautiful thing about alchemy for me is not the results but tapping into the correct mental zone they were thinking from. Ive put at least 150 hrs in listening to seriously dorky stuff but I can say its changed my way of thinking
Most of the philosopher's stone was technically realized with particle accelerators. Also, if you have ever seen photos of Enrico Fermi, sweaty, shirtless, and covered in graphite dust as he was in Chicago building the first nuclear reactor in secret, you have to admit it has the "look" of alchemy.
Try metallurgy, and astrology
The things the Church exterminated without prejudice
The problem remains that even “technically”, the cost to transform lead into gold far (and wildly so) exceeds the value of what is produced. Now imagine traveling back in time to those ancient alchemists and telling them that while their goal was “technically” possible, they had a fundamental misunderstanding of nearly everything about it, and would need to start from scratch. And again, the success of their goal cost more than it yielded. That’s *exactly* why I sit on my couch. Because of alchemists.
@@uncannyvalley2350 Doesn’t the church have an Observatory named Lucifer? The church most certainly is not the same organization it was.
Never thought of the etymology of "hermetically sealed" before😯
Looking up the etymology of "hermetic" when I was a teen is probably the earliest thing I did that could constitute research into the mystic or occult. Of course I didn't know it was going to take me there in advance. 😆
14:33 Whenever this Brabant Thaler was shown in a previous episode, I went online to find out more about it. I didn’t find much, but I DID see it was for sale, so I bought it. It’s a very cool coin, and the gold tint is far more apparent in person than the images can do justice.
That's really cool - I thought about getting it and when I decided to - it was gone. Glad you got it!
Very cool!
Such a dazzling distillation of things I have been reading about, trying to make sense of, for years!
The problem with esoteric writing is that early writers thought and wrote metaphorically and analogically. Later readers and interpreters grew increasingly literal minded until today we are so literal in thinking that we can hardly understand what the original authors were saying. Not all that glitters has 79 protons. Alchemy is not chemistry though its literal interpretation inspired chemists like Sir Isaac.
Yes, as a tech writer, that skill set and even concept is a relatively new one.
Often the impetus was on the reader to figure it out, not on the writer to make it easy to understand. You can see this in sword fighting treatises a lot, too, most of what I study from these periods.
No different then modern science. If you read a modern quantum physics books, you will get equations, words, pictures that only physicist and some scientist understand. No normal people will understand the manual !
Exactly. But, people were also literal thinkers back in the day too. Example: people looking for an actual cup (holy grail) when that too was a metaphor.
@@FulcanelliTrismegistus There's back in the day and then there's back in the day. The ancient Greeks started the literal trend. By the the time of Helena of Constantinople everybody expected their religious artifacts to be physically real. Of course, the idea of the Holy Grail didn't really exist until the 12th century anyway, and it took centuries before anyone bother to look for it.
As always, I am in awe of the depth of your knowledge and how you are able to explain such a dense and often baroque body of philosophical work in such an engaging way. Thank you.
I think this has been my outmost favorite video on your channel. So deep and clear!! Thank you so much!!
If a philosopher, famous or not, owns a stone-perhaps as a pet, or maybe just as a trinket on shelf-does that not make a philosopher’s stone? ;)
well then.....I guess I have it :)
That would mean that everyone would have one of they owned a stone, then drank half a bottle of whiskey or punched a few cones. Unless you are talking about real philosophers. But that's not as much fun.
@@angelawossname Perhaps the non accredited philosophers have the lesser silver making stones? Hmm? I would be in the later category if that were the case
I would be totally fine with a silver making stone. As long as it doesn't make quick silver. If you expose yourself to enough of that you'll be mad enough that you won't need the whiskey or the cones.
A pet stone a fine and mighty addition to any alchemists armory to reach divine
When your favorite UA-camr makes a reference to your favorite band.... priceless
It is said on other side of tree of life -Qliphoth that through complete initiation and inner alchemy you build and shape your soul into a black diamond ,the philosopher stone adamas ater
Alchemy is so interesting, it's one of the few things that still feels magical.
Then Don't watch bcus he is saying it was literally just wn attempt to understand chemistry and that the spiritual stuff was projected on it later. Depressing.
You don't think computers and smartphones are magical then? I do! Or magnetic induction of electricity. Or photosynthesis. Or body self healing. Or homeopathy (which works in reality beyond placebo, despite all pseudoscientific mockery). Or manifesting the life you want through "law of attraction" i.e. clear thoughts, strong desires, careful words, skillful actions.
Reality IS magical to the core.
Liked for "Good Hermetic Fun" in the future PLEASE!!!!
Magnificent episode, really enjoyed it. I've always been curious about the concepts and history around the philosophers' stone and here it was, in a nutshell a lot of info about it, in such a short time. Thanks a lot Dr.
I've always assumed the stone was an allegory for innovation/technology.
Adore this channel. Thank you, Esoterica.
Right, the precipitation of knowledge or wisdom.
Guess that's a modern view in the West, although it seems to correlate to Eastern "alchemical" ideas.
It's such a mystical symbol, it's really versatile in the range of projections it supports.
All things to all actors
The Stone is a physical/material thing and also an allegory at the same time.
"The SECRET of HERMETIC SCIENCE OR PHILOSOPHY is as
its name indicates : SOUL-KNOWLEDGE.
Hermetic Science does not relate to material things, but uses
Alchemical symbols as a blind for SPIRITUAL REALITIES. It is an
Alchemy of the MIND and SOUL, a SPIRITUAL ALCHEMY.
Thus is JACOB BEHMEN an Adept of Hermetic
Philosophy, but not an Adept in Physical Alchemy. In His
Philosophy the Philosopher's Stone is a Symbol for Divine
Illumination, and the Mastery, or Great Work, relates to the
Regeneration of the Soul.
A study of the Works of Jacob Behmen"
-- Introductory section to the Splendor Solis page 10
@@ReptilianXHologram Yeah, me too. I usually sprinkle some on my French fries to give em a good kick. Sort of a zesty taste, with a small salty flavor.
This channel is the kind of thing I've been hoping to find for over 10 years!! Keep it up!
Have you considered a speaking tour? The occult practices of the early American industrialists would be a topic that interests me. Thanks for everything!
It is an understatement to call you one of the most important figures on this platform. So many wicked people use these topics and their elusive nature against people. I cant explain it. But growing up in an area that told me as a child my parents were literally going to burn in hell for not attending the Church of Christ specifically. My veil was instantly removed. And I had no where to turn in an internetless time. And no real library. You sir. You are helping many many people. Sorry for the rant. Much love Brother. I hope all is well.
I agree, I had to go WAY out of my way to get knowledge that this man has in droves.
And I was young during a time we had the internet but I had no idea how to find anything.
I basically did all the research myself for years until Esoterica, Religion for Breakfast, and Lets Talk Religion popped up on my radar.
I only found this channel about a week ago and I've already felt some effects of psychological healing in my life. Religious trauma is real, and information is power. His work truly is impactful and profound.
@@BuddhaMelffyQueen Give a look at Seekers of Unity it is also part of the bundle. Something a bit more crazy (religious and non academic) is The Morgue, he explains Jungian psychology like no one
Religious freedom and the right to self-determination are extremely important. If you can't experiment how can you discover where do you belong.
Saying in a way that does not say enything.
Dr. Sledge, I absolutely love your lectures. I listen to your videos everyday at work and I just want to thank you for your extensive research.
Keep crushing it,
Ben Pilarczyk
Wow, I've never heard anyone explain so clearly in one place exactly what observations led to alchemical theory. Great stuff!
I just recently discovered your channel and am loving it! I find your mix of scholarly knowledge and sense of humour refreshing. Thanks for doing this!
I’ve been anticipating this one! Your videos always make me excited to learn. Thank you!
The comments say 1 day ago and I just got notified 15s ago!🤔
They are patreon members.
They pay to see his videos first and they're kind of the reason we're able to watch Justin.
Awesome people if you ask me.
@@BuddhaMelffyQueen makes sense lol. Sometimes I don't think of the most likely answers. 😄 edit: And thankyou to the peeps who donate to the peeps who feed my mind.
Thank you for that insightful and educational video. I have interested in alchemy for a long time but never knew exactly what it was about, now I have (at least) a clearer understanding of it. Here is a like and comment to help your channel grow and get you the recognition you deserve.
Just wanted to say that I absolutely love your commentary and sense of humor. So glad YT recommended your channel to me!
Missed you dear Dr. Sledge! Great stuff, as always, thank you. :)
Great to hear from, friend!
The substance of this great work you've produced is just exuberant.
It seems as if this video was made for me. I spoke to someone about this topic today, and this video was also uploaded.
Amazing that such a thing has been known for such a long time. How could anyone resist using such power.
Sweet!!!! I've been anxiously awaiting this one 👍👍👍
I don't know about other countries but here in Sweden some alchemical symbols (the signs of the planets and their associated metals) are still used as a kind of romantic thing in out metallurgical industry! It's not commonly known outside the metals industry but it's something I love and always look out for. The most notable example is certainly the Volvo logotype using the mars symbol to represent iron/steel, but it also occurs in "kommunvapen" and many other logos for industrial companies and books/art/etc representing practical metallurgy rather than alchemy.
Dude, you HAD me with that D&D .05e joke. That was an 11/10.
This is my absolute favorite channel on esotericism. THANK YOU ❤
Thank you so much for your fascinating and inspiring videos!
So terrific to have an analysis from the standpoint of history.
Thank you for your time!
Thank you Doctor! Very cool information delivered very well indeed!!! I appreciate you and yours
🙏🏻♥️ Thank you for excellent channel. This is by far one of my favorites.
"Don't feed mercury to babies" is a fair warning I was absolutely not prepared to hear at any point of my life. I love it.
More fantastic content Dr. Sledge!! Ty ty.
The only serious video on youtube about alchemy without mambojambo. Thanks for sharing and for all the hours of research.
I thought a chemical marriage was what happened in Vegas 😂
I love this subject! Thanks man!
I'm so glad I found this channel by accident it's become such an important part of my morning with coffee
DR SLEDGE YOUR INTRO ALWAYS GETS ME HYPE
Thank you for this great video. I’m intrigued by the many illustrations. I would love to see a video that further explores the symbolism alchemists used to convey their ideas. For example, I really enjoyed the explanation behind the green lion devouring the sun.
So happy I joined ur patron dr Justin
I was actually just reading about this, and then you did a video about it!
The purpose of the 'philosopher’s tone' is to inspire the science of the topic. I believe it was highly compelling for aspiring little alchemists to read about it and go explore. It was a successful concept, that eventually led to our modern chemistry and physics. Well done ancient philosophers.😊
I can picture alchemists bragging about how dummy thicc their hermetic vessels are. People never change.
Doc, once again your research & delivery on another awesome mysterious topic was stellar! Definitely going to subscribe to your Patreon!
i would be so interested to see you do a video about esoteric knowledge in mormonism!!! really interesting topic there is so much information out there
So fascinating well presented. Thankyou! 😀
incredible video!
You do great work. Thank you for your work.
Awesome stuff, Dr Sledge!
Oh yes. Been waiting for this one :-)
I hope so!
My second listening. Incredible presentation & summarizing. Wow! TY! I toast you Dr. Sledge 🥃
Brilliant presentation, very interesting and thought provoking! ♥️
I really enjoy the obscure ancient/historical artwork you display, it's always stuff i've never seen before.
also, I notice you're using much fewer edits, looks great!
I'm really looking forward to seeing you cover the philosophical interpretation of this!
I mean as much as there is one to do, this episode kinda did it.
THE BEST RESEARCHED KNOWLEDGE....THANK YOU ASTRO PREP FUTUREKEY PRODUCTIONS
AMAZING video! This one was another level
This was a great video on the Philosopher’s Stone. And I am studying alchemy.
One of the most entertaining episodes; from smiling, to chuckles, guffaws, to outright laughter! Priceless. I thought how fun it would have been to give an alchemist a growing crystals kit! Thanks & Cheers from Seattle 🍻 Alex
Or just a high school chemistry textbook
Interesting that the idea of the Philosopher's Stone still persists in science fiction today. Nanites. They are a substance that is "stone", as in solid, but can act like a liquid or gas. They are commonly depicted as being able to take any shape, transmute materials into other things, heal the body to degrees of immortality, and allow for telepathic communication. It's the magical super substance that is both a tool and an intelligence at the same time.
You quoted Tool’s song Lateralus. “Black and White are, all I see. In my infancy. Red then yellow came to be.” Awesome! I knew you were a good dude. I don’t trust anyone that doesn’t like Tool 😁 Big hello from Midtown Memphis.
@@princeofcupspoc9073 their live shows are amazing. And yes, the drummer Danny is especially in to the Crowley stuff.
FASCINATING !!!!!! Thank you.
This was great. thank you.
@ESOTERICA I love you for the Lateralus reference. :)
I should've paid more attention in my high school chemistry class........ (Fantastic video as always! I jest but you actually explain these really complex things in such an accessible way, I have to give you massive props.)
It is fascinating that planets that produce gold are older ones because the core is hitting more complex atoms together. And people try to make it since they discovered it somewhere in the dirt.
been waiting for this!
Easily the best video on Alchemy I've seen in quite some time. So glad to support this humble channel of yours.
Also, nice Tool reference. That entire album, I would argue, is an excellent homage to Alchemical research.
Thank you for your great work.
Wow! I’m so happy that UA-cam got this recommendation right. I’m two mins in and already subscribed. Hugs💕✨
This was great. Thank you.
Awesome. Thanks
Oh, I so love this! Thank you thank you thank you! Can I ask for more?!
excellent - thank you...
I've been studying Gematria in "Sepher Sepheroth" as a recent hobby of sorts and I have encountered many alchemical references. I originally started doing this to research lore of FFVII's main villain. I was astonished as to how much I was able to dig up from it. But even more so, I was astonished to find that there actually is something to Gematria in real life terms. My best guess is that it has something to do with an underlying mathematical principle in how each of their letters is also a number.
For what it's worth, I follow the method described in the book to my best understanding. That is to trace the etymological origins of a given word in it's own language. Then from there find it's nearest Greek equivalent and translate the Greek word to Hebrew. Just from doing that alone, I have learned a ton about Hebrew, Greek, and Coptic languages that never ceases to amaze me.
The association with the letter/number stigma to shin and tav is fascinating.
However, what really blows me away is the Pythagorean element to numerology. Numbers 25, 28, and 49 are very fascinating indeed. I would like to hear what you have to say about it given your experience with ciphers.
Get godwins encyclopedia. It's like sephir sephirot but finished and more detailed. I think all editions also include crowleys in the back. Bill Heidrick put together a decent free one online too. The other thing that helped me as a gematria beginner was learning more about how spelling works in hebrew. A regular modern language course and a hebrew-english dictionary helps with that. I read somewhere that there are 5 trees in paradise. "Paradise" in hebrew is a 5 letter acronym for remembering all the funky things you can do to read into a single hebrew word.
29:06 I was thinking it as you listed it.
brillant work. Keep going
Brilliant…as usual 👍🏻
Clearly the alchemists believed that they were literally working towards the transmutation of metals. However I can't agree that there was no spiritual dimension to alchemy. There was clearly an esoteric dimension to alchemy. Zosimos discusses the soul at great lengths. Other writers included moral doctrines in their works.
I'm pretty sure anyone who devotes their life to a dead-end science will start to wax philosophical about how "it's not about the product, it's about the journey" lol
@@chompythebeast it didn't fall out of favor until much later though. People were writing like this when alchemists were still making major contributions to chemistry.
Just subbed keep up the good work
Man bro I freaking love your show and hello from Saint Louis
This is a great upload, thanks so muc. Subbed.
Thanks!