The Alchemy Guild Bulletin is your source for breaking news on alchemy and alchemists with current announcements and latest info on classes, lectures, and events.

Edited by Paulette Harris. Published six times a year by the Alchemy Guild. Past issues are archived at AlchemyGuild.org.

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March-April 2014

SPRING EQUINOX: March 20, 2014 12:57 P.M. EDT

Alchemy Guild Bulletin

Announcements

NEW IAG CHAPTER

The Alchemy Guild is pleased to announce the opening of a new Chapter, the Midwest Alchemy Guild. The Chapter will serve all 12 Midwest States.

Modeled after the Tree of Life, its Lunar President is Vincent Norman Martin and its Solar President is Mitchell Jeffers. Jason Collette serves as Secretary of the Board and Michael J. Kelly is its Treasurer. Steering Committee members are Chris McNamara and Dennis Bridenstine.

The fire of enthusiasm is burning in the hearts and minds of the Chapter's leadership. Its first board meeting is to be held at the Spring Equinox, the beginning of the Astrological new year. At that meeting plans for a public workshop will be discussed. Also, the Chapter’s quarterly newsletter, Elias Artista, will begin its publication in the Spring.

One of the Chapter’s missions is to plant the seeds of Alchemy that will one day heal our planet. While its leadership is serious about the art and craft of Alchemy, its approach is one of congeniality, humility and the levity of humor.

Additional information may be found on the Guild website under "Local Guild Chapters.”

For inquiries, please contact Vince at vincentnmartin@gmail.com

NEW WORKSHOP

Spiritual Alchemy Workshop: A Journey to the Source

with Dennis William Hauck

Dates: Memorial Day weekend May 24-26, 2014 (Saturday, Sunday, and Monday). Location: Rosicrucian Park, 1342 Naglee Ave., San Jose, CA 95126.

This three-day, intensive, multimedia workshop focuses on the advanced teachings of alchemy. Using secret Hermetic techniques, the operations of alchemy, iconic imagery, activated symbology, and guided meditations, workshop participants will journey through the stages of purification and empowerment that lead to the transpersonal source that is the Philosopher’s Stone.

Tools include process handouts and charts, audio recordings, and a full-color bound textbook of meditative drawings (The Mystery Traditions: Secret Symbols and Sacred Art by James Wasserman). Selected eBooks will be sent to participants to help them prepare for the workshop. Everyone will also receive personalized graphs showing the relative power of the metals (planetary archetypes) in their astrological signatures. This information will guide their work to transmute the inner metals into a more resilient golden temperament.

Dennis William Hauck is known for his ability to present these teachings in a way that comes alive in people. While studying for his doctorate in mathematics at the University of Vienna, he completed a three-year apprenticeship in alchemy and was later initiated into a variety of Hermetic traditions in Europe, Egypt, and the United States. He has since translated several old manuscripts and authored a number of bestselling books on alchemy, including The Emerald Tablet: Alchemy for Personal Transformation, The Secret of the Emerald Tablet, Sorcerer’s Stone: A Beginner’s Guide to Alchemy, and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Alchemy.

All proceeds (including speaker's fees) benefit the Alchemy Museum & Laboratory project at Rosicrucian Park in San Jose, California.

Fee: $350 ($300 for AMORC members)

Space is limited. Please reserve your spot early!

For more info or to register, go to:

www.regonline.com/journey-to-the-source

Lecturer: www.DWHauck.com

Email: tours@rosicrucian.org

ATTENTION IAG MEMBERS IN THE PENNSYLVANIA AREA:

At your earliest opportunity please send a quick email to Donald Lively, Chapter President of the Alchemy Guild of Pennsylvania, at: iag.pa.dlvly@gmail.com so I may have your current email address to discuss activities in which area members might wish to participate as well as to develop other collegial opportunities of focus, such as attending get-togethers, developing a website for our purposes (within the by-laws of IAG), and any other matters pertinent to the expansion of alchemy in the Pennsylvania area.

It would be a blessing to develop cordiality among our brother and sister alchemists in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the region.

There are many issues we could discuss but it starts with welcoming one another.

Solve et coagule,

Don Lively, IAG-PA Administrator

"A thousand words will not leave so deep an impression as one deed."
Henrik Ibsen

Chapter News

The IAG Denver Chapter, Le Lion Rouge continues its very active programming!

Alchemy Astrology by Timothy (KC) Wilkerson was the Chapter’s January lecture, followed by an exercise in making charts and discerning the influences the Universe plays on the self and one’s lab work.

Phoenix Aquila, Australia Chapter President, was guest lecturer in February. The lecture focused on the spiritual aspects of the seven stages of alchemy. What to expect in each stage and exercises and tools to aid the spiritual journey were discussed.

March Activities:

Robert Allen Bartlett will be giving a mini Prima Class on March 15. This event is open to everyone. For details, please visit the events page of Le Lion Rouge at: http://alchemyguild-lelionrouge.com/events.html

CIRCES International has extended an invitation to Le Lion Rouge members to attend a Spring Gathering on March 22, 2014. Members of the esoteric community from around the World will be attending this full day lecture.

On the 23rd Chapter President Mathew Ingalls will be giving a demonstration to Chapter members on making elixirs using information from the Alchemist Handbook.

The Lion's Den will be launched during March. This Chapter blog will post monthly articles by its members on Chinese Medicine and Herbs, information on labware, lab experiments, papers on other Alchemists and their contributions, Alchemical History, Meditation exercises, and Gnosticism. Check out this exciting new blog: http://alchemyguild-lelionrouge.com/blog.html

A rental program for lab equipment is also being implemented in March. Members will be able to rent equipment for their experiments and will allow others the opportunity to become familiar with a variety of equipment before purchasing their own. Donations from members will support equipment purchases and upkeep. Thanks, Mathew, for sponsoring this vital program!

m_ingalls@alchemyguild-lelionrouge.com

http://alchemyguild-lelionrouge.com

In This Issue:

Announcements
Chapter News
From Readers
Did You Know?
Book Review
Wisdom of Humor

Spotlight On . . .

New Books
Lectures
Classes
Forums
Alchemy Study
Links

"It is only those who never do anything who never make mistakes."
~A. Favre

Adept is from the Latin word adeptus, meaning having attained mastery of a subject. Alchemists coined the term in the 1600s to refer specifically to someone who had learned the secret of transforming base metals into gold; today it is used to mean anyone who is skilled in the secrets of anything.
The Idiot's Guide to Alchemy by DWHauck

Some people will say that strange things can happen on the equinox, but really strange things can happen any day of the year.
~springequinox.org

Life is just a mirror, and what you see out there, you must first see inside of you.
~Wally 'Famous' Amos

From Our Readers

SACRED SCIENCE OF ALCHEMY

by Roger Asterilla

Although there are resemblances, alchemy cannot be adequately equated to modern science, a craft, an art, or a religion as we know and understand them. It is much, much more. In Western culture, alchemy is best perceived as a modern remnant of an ancient science or a golden thread, if you will, that snakes its way through cultural history--Europe, Islam and Christianity, Greece, Egypt, and ancient Mesopotamia. In doing so, alchemy not only leads to the symbolic foundations of human knowledge, it reorients one’s perception toward awareness of the origin of generation that was fully understood in antiquity. R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz describes this knowledge as a Sacred Science.

Sacred Science, or the Science of Thoth, includes religious ritual, medicine, geometry, astronomy, the laws of everyday life and justice taught within the House of Life. In the House of Life there is a symbol of the Cosmic Man within the terrestrial man. The foundation of the wisdom taught is the “secret of becoming.” This secret encompasses the genealogy of the archetypes, their attributes and relation to Nature, the composition of matter and its various forms, what animates these forms, and the irreducible expression of spirit, soul and body.

Alchemy leads to the Philosopher’s Stone and the Great Work of Transmutation, or the Magnum Opus, which is the liberation of suffering from the mortal condition. It is the seeking of the Philosopher’s Stone or the stone of wisdom. This stone is “unspecified” and does not belong to the mineral, plant or animal kingdoms. Yet, not only does it animate these kingdoms, it is the universal medicine for the human body that eliminates all impurities leaving only perfect equilibrium. The Great Work is initiated only after realizing that we are confronted with a choice: Do we choose to develop spiritually, which is an internal process of creation, or choose to create in the external world, the result of subconscious projection. In the former case, we learn to understand the reason for the fall of man, and in the latter we realize how things become fixated in matter. In either case, “the only guides are analogy and signature,” which gave cause for de Lubicz to state:

“This fact has led to the establishment of analogical tables, such as the zodiac and planetary relationships with metals, and further, with the various parts of the human body and with plant and animal types. This is not a whimsical fantasy or even simply a conclusion based on coincidences observed over long periods of time. There does exist a science based on Numbers that reveals the reason for these coincidences.”

Alchemy is a golden thread leading to the Philosopher’s Stone and the Magnum Opus. It is a gift that has been preserved from antiquity. Its core knowledge is symbolized in the Great Pyramid. Alchemy guides one to modern science and what are termed crafts, arts, and religions. It is the preeminent guide in the eternal quest for self-realization. Alchemy is a process for reorienting one’s perception towards how matter is generated, the source from which it comes, and the nature of reality.

The golden thread referred to above is “Ariadne’s Thread,” a term used to describe the solving of a problem with multiple apparent means of proceeding, such as a physical maze, a logic puzzle or an ethical dilemma, through an exhaustive application of logic to all available routes. Consequently, as a phrase, Ariadne’s Thread has been confused with “trial & error” or an approach to a problem with a desired solution, an example of which is the scientific method. On the other hand, Ariadne's Thread blindly exhausts efforts to find any and all solutions, an example of which would be puzzle-solving.

According to R.A. Schwaller deLubicz, author of Sacred Science, this mode of thinking has its origin among early Greek thinkers. Beginning with Xenophanes and Parmenides, who opposed the teachings of Pythagoras, and Zeno, who followed their line of reasoning, deLubicz states, “If division to infinity is acknowledged, it means there will be no end to the dividing, and it is supposed that there will always be something to divide.” On the other hand, alchemy combines all ingredients into a whole--the Big Picture.

One may be tempted to argue that the modern scientific method has brought us closer to an understanding of Nature, and this fact must be conceded. However, the attempt to harmonize the theory of relativity with quantum mechanics has thus far only resulted in the Superstring Theory. The Superstring Theory attempts to explain all of the particles and fundamental forces of nature into a unified theory by modeling them as vibrations of tiny super symmetric strings. Tiny super metric strings are in themselves a continued result of an exclusionary process of knowing, which implies a subject/object relationship. Modern physics (science) may stand at the threshold of a total realization of reality, but it is my opinion that it still falls short of being comparable to “what alchemy is.”

Through love all that is bitter will be sweet,
Through love all that is copper will be gold,
Through love all dregs will become wine,
Through love all pain will turn to medicine.
~Rumi

Did You Know?

INTELLIGENCE OF THE HEART

by Dennis William Hauck

Alchemy is based on ancient Hermetic teachings that were meant to be experienced directly in an initiatory environment. True alchemy is not an intellectual pursuit nor a measure of knowledge – it is a secret fire that ignites passion and inspiration in all those who possess it. That fire can only be passed on in living concepts grasped by both heart and mind to create a new state of consciousness Egyptians called “Intelligence of the Heart.” This process is part of the Underground Stream of perennial wisdom that still flows in our modern era.

The most powerful rendering of the ancient wisdom is in the intuitive writings, coded ciphers, and symbolic imagery of the alchemists. Their practical approach to esoteric energies created a powerful spiritual technology that combined introspection, meditation, and prayer with laboratory demonstrations. Their tireless efforts to unite soul and spirit – the inner and outer worlds – exposed the deep connection between mind and matter that science is just beginning to explore.

Mr. Hauck is conducting the Spiritual Alchemy Workshop: A Journey to the Source at Rosicrucian Park in San Jose, CA over the Memorial Day weekend. Please see details in the Announcements section.

Op Ed

NEWTON & PURITY IN ALCHEMY

By Donald Lively

[Isaac] "Newton was an alchemist, but he thought he wasn't pure enough. The first thing you had to be as an alchemist was pure. He knew he wasn't. He could be pure for a few hours; then some bad thought would creep into his head and spoil everything, take his strength and his magic away. Every morning he'd wake with a set of resolutions and self-punishment and by breakfast it would have all started again, the spiteful thoughts, the desire for vengeance, like an infestation." [page 132, Rebecca Stott, Ghostwalker, A Novel (Spiegel & Grau, NY, 2008)]

This prompted me to seriously reflect on whether this 64-year old combat veteran with a couple of combat kills to his record in Vietnam is "pure enough" to be an alchemist.

I am not a Jungian. Never was, quite likely never will be, albeit having had a steady diet of it beginning with my college days in the 1960’s and on into the 1970’s. So Jungian alchemy enthusiasts please take this into consideration.

An experimenter knows unclean equipment does not a good and honest experiment make. Cleanliness is the key, from the simple pipette to the purity of the water and substances being used to achieve a truthful result. But what of the mind and heart of the laboratory worker and the person whose experiment it is? Are those who do not frequent the standard chemical/alchemical laboratory, who spend more time with the "ora" than the "labora" in the pursuit of the Great Art, required, as Stott's Isaac insists, to wear a constant cloak of purity?

My answer is yes. I know it from my Mom and other "kitchen alchemists," who, though unintentionally, perform their magic preparing meals for family and friends. Intuitively, we can “taste” when love is present in a dish. Whatever one possesses within during an act is reflected without in the result.

So again an emphatic yes! An alchemist must be pure within and without in order to be a true alchemist such as Isaac Newton. (Knowing him to be fastidious in his spiritual pursuits, he would be speaking to the choir were he to preach to me.) But from my few discussions with fellow "alchemists" since this notion came to my attention in the last few years, I seem to be in the minority.

It is for this reason I study the history of alchemy, knowing my efforts as an alchemist are always challenging due to my honest internal impurity, the result of my personal experiences. I make no judgments of others. However, my experience is that bringing my imperfections into experiments with the intention of purifying myself along with the physical ingredients is the true approach to The Great Work.

". . . the alchemist himself is the subject of the primary stages of his operation. The laboratory in which he works is his own personality. His practice enables him to demonstrate that his personality is just a little of the operation of the Sun. Step-by-step it gradually and gently alters the state of his mind and of his body until he reaches a stage of elimination in which he perceives that all of his personal activities are in truth particular modes of the cosmic process. “

Paul Foster Case, Hermetic Alchemy

The Power of Books

SPOTLIGHT ON BRIDGES

A Book Review by Laura Jay

W.S Williamson's Bridges tells the story of a young women's rediscovery and redemption through darkness and light. Pain and disillusionment give rise to a journey through superstitions and fear, questioning and disempowerment - an experience with an ancient and revelatory book of sound vibrations - to renewed understanding and hope in one's ability to create change by following one's heart and being love. Letting go of the past opens the door to living fully in the present.

The book touches on tenets of faith. Certain truths are distilled and set forth in a simple way. There is brief mention of the three phases of alchemy, though one knows it is the alchemical journey the main character progresses through as she experiences the challenges on her path. As the story unfolds, the myriad "bridges" become known.

The book is simple and uncomplicated ~ a story about living from one's heart. As Williamson writes, "Follow your heart. We aren't capable of understanding everything with our minds. There are too many contradictions, too many holes." The phrase "the intelligence of Love" is used, which aligns with the intelligence of the heart, to which all alchemists aspire. This I found quite meaningful, "It is said we were made to co-create but collaborating makes more sense in the grand scheme of things. If you can really love, it can change everything." As Williamson says "Love bridges all barriers."

Bridges will be released in bookstores on April 15, 2014.

The website for Bridges is: http://www.agapy.com/bridges

Ms. Williamson blogs at: http://wswilliamson.com/

The Wisdom of Humor

Spotlight on ...

NEW BOOKS BY MEMBERS Member Jeff S. Williams has written the first two books in a series of four books on Esoteric Science. The author journeys through the esoteric traditions, from Egyptian Mystery Schools to Shamanism and Alchemy, demonstrating congruities both between each of the individual traditions and between the esoteric tradition as a whole and modern science. Foreword by Dennis William Hauck. MORE INFORMATION	LECTURES & WORKSHOPS MEMBERS ONLY EVENT: Introduction, Theory and History Prima Workshop Lecture with Robert Allen Bartlett, Author of Real Alchemy; and The Way of the Crucible March 15, 2014 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Double Tree Hilton, Aurora, CO Sponsored by the Denver Chapter Le Lion Rouge For details go to: PRIMA WORKSHOP LECTURE Spiritual Alchemy Workshop: A Journey to the Source with Dennis William Hauck Dates: Memorial Day weekend May 24-26, 2014 (Saturday, Sunday, and Monday). Location: Rosicrucian Park, 1342 Naglee Ave., San Jose, CA 95126. This three-day, intensive, multimedia workshop focuses on the advanced teachings of alchemy. Using secret Hermetic techniques, the operations of alchemy, iconic imagery, activated symbology, and guided meditations, workshop participants will journey through the stages of purification and empowerment that lead to the transpersonal source that is the Philosopher’s Stone. Dennis William Hauck is known for his ability to present these teachings in a way that comes alive in people. Dennis has translated several old manuscripts and authored a number of bestselling books on alchemy, including The Emerald Tablet: Alchemy for Personal Transformation, The Secret of the Emerald Tablet, Sorcerer’s Stone: A Beginner’s Guide to Alchemy, and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Alchemy. All proceeds (including speaker's fees) benefit the Alchemy Museum & Laboratory project. Fee: $350 ($300 for AMORC members). For more info or to register, go to: journey-to-the-source For a full description of the workshop, Mr. Hauck's credentials and links go to LECTURES AND EVENTS	ALCHEMY CLASSES Sign up for classes: ALCHEMYSTUDY
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