S&E’s Companion Guide 001: “Esoteric Alchemy” By: Manly P. Hall

I can’t guarantee it’ll happen to everybody, and maybe my perception is deceiving me, but every time I listen to a Manly P. Hall talk it ends ups solving a personal problem. Somehow it touches on something I’m struggling with. It’s never obvious from the topic or the title, in this case: I’ve been complaining to myself about not having an ideal space to meditate in. My neighbors are too noisy and nosey, the walls are not thick enough and to top it off, since it started raining there’s a mosquitoes invasion.

In the video after the jump, the legendary Canadian scholar told me about some temple in Tibet that makes the apprentices monks meditate under a huge bell that they keep ringing – Ring Ding Dong/ Ring-a-ding ding ding dong -, the objective being  to develop “a complete indifference to interruption”.  The absolute quietude has to be internal. Since another sage informed me the idea is to work with what you have, I’ll use the constant noise and blood sucking instead of said bell and go from there. Let the battle begin.

Anyway, to some of us Manly P. is a beacon of hope and a calmed voice in a sea of screams and desperation. To others, he was a Freemason, thus bound to secrecy to the organization, thus cannot be trusted. According to the official story he joined the order in 1954, already a middle aged man, and was recognized as a 33° Mason in 1973. Since your instincts are the only thing you should trust, I urge you to listen to him and decide for yourself if what he says rings true for you or not.

The talk’s title is “Esoteric Alchemy – The transformation of attitudes”, as opposed to the mere transformation of metals and the materialistic approach to the science. It’s absolutely fantastic and you shouldn’t miss it, but since hearing someone speak for an hour without video or anesthesia is a pretty daunting activity, I took the liberty of digesting it for my beloved audience. Below you’ll find S&E’s Companion Guide, it divides the talk in broad topics and includes several key quotes and notes.

May it help the wanderer (you) return home.

“Esoteric Alchemy – Transformation of attitudes” / By: Manly P. Hall

1.- The Divine Science

– Al, the divine prefix (Elohim, Allah)
– Chem, probably comes from Kemet/ Egypt

– “Paracelsus summarized this rather well when he pointed out that: the alchemical transmutation was impossible unless the alchemist himself was in the process of transformation”.

– The manufacture of gold without control by the state could bankrupt the whole world, “… gold making as a science brought many of the alchemist to destruction”

2.- The Past

– “The earliest alchemists that we know where using symbols at a very early date.  In many cases the symbols have been accepted as literal pictures, and this has led to further confusion”.

– Alchemy in China, India, ancient Greece, Alexandria (Hermes Trismegistus) and Europe.

– Alchemy: “A series of symbols intended to convey a major operation concerning the transmutation of man himself”.

– Proof of the possibility of transmutation: our own digestive system.

“Out of what goes into him comes out of him: arts and sciences, poetry and music, philosophy and science, religion and economics”.

One general type of nutrition maintains an infinite diversity of creatures.

3.- Elias Artista, symbol of the perfect alchemist

– “The beginning of  the alchemical experiment was to remove all friction from life” – worry, fear, anxiety.

– “Deity, the perfect force behind generation and regeneration”- The seed, the plant, the flower, the fruit.

4.- The first process: purification

– “Most of the great experiments of Paracelsus and many others were possible because of the pure high atmosphere of The Alps”.

– “The alchemist must first purify his own body and his own nature”.

– The most valuable and mysterious thing in the world: “Man’s recognition of his responsibility to the life principle which exist in him and in which he exists”.

5.- The Philosopher’s Stone and The Elixir of Life

– The Stone represents the body of wisdom purified. The Elixir or Universal Medicine represents the soul, it’s the essence of immortality.

– “To create a quiet place within the self for the contemplation of the symbols of regeneration, this is very vital”.

– The Chakras = The Seven Seals of Revelation = The Seven Sacred Metals of the Alchemical Transmutation = The Seven Orifices of the Heart.

– Absolute quietude, “absolute sacrifice of all forms of negation”.

6.- The dweller in the flesh – body, emotions and mind

– “It wasn’t the flesh but the dweller in the flesh who was giving trouble”.

– Control emotion, cultivate sincere emotion, gradually we relax the emotional content
– “The emotions no longer persecute the body”.

– The mind = psychological bookkeeper, a very useful secretary .

– Control the ambitions of the mind, which know no bounds.

– “The only answer is gradually to recognize the ascent of the being though this conditions”.

– 3 basic steps: body, emotions and mind = the visible temple.

– “The magnetic field is not interested in your excuses”, nor explanations.

– Maintain harmony, you’re like a musical instrument. Also, the world is.

7.- A faculty higher than the mind

– “Elias Artista appeared at the proper moment to give some type of instruction, something more than the alchemist alone had achieved”.

– The life of Christ and The Song of Solomon are alchemical formulas in disguise.

– The Fourth Step = awareness of the soul, achieving a sense of reality superior to thought.

– “The soul was the symbol of Elias Artista, the adept, the power in man capable  of becoming the internal instructor”.

– Seeing with the soul eye = to behold the invisible shape of thing, their true nature. Everything is alive.

8.- The great pattern

– “Alchemy is only a symbolic representation of the entire process of Universal activity”.

– The alchemy of life, union with the divine part of yourself.

Never for personal gain, glory, wealth and never to escape pain.

–  “The alchemist problem was to solve the mystery of himself. He had to find ways to outgrow his own limitations”.

– “A Universe of infinite integrity, infinite beauty and infinite wonder”.

9.- Seeing ourselves

– “There’s no reason to assume that he could ever be any more than he is”.

– “We assume that as we are is it. So is from that standpoint, we are locked in the lowest levels of achievement”.

– Soul Power: “Give the best of ourselves immediate rulership over the rest of ourselves”. A slow process of discipline.

– Alchemy: “A dedicated effort to find out where we came from, why we are here and where we are going”.

– “A science in which all sciences built in selfishness can be rededicated to the common good of humanity”.

****************************************  ***********************************

***************************************  ************************************

*************************************  **************************************
That’s the lesson for today. Thanks for playing. See you next time.